The Covenant Keeper

Deuteronomy 7:6–9 NKJV

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

In the times we live in, and in our day to day lives, this world, it’s system, and it’s values can wear on us.

It entices us, aggravates us, and frustrates us.

Some days we make it through feeling victorious.

Other days we feel like this world has mopped the local dump with us after giving us a good beat down.

Some days we pray past the vail of our flesh, break into the heavens, and into The Throne Room of our G-d and our King.

Other days we feel as if the heavens were solid steel and that none of our prayers are getting through.

These are circumstances that each and every one of us deal with, individually and collectively.

Sometimes we may even wonder if we’re doing any of this right?

Am I doing enough?

What use am I?

I’m not perfect so how can Jesus love me and utilize me in His plans?

The Good News is that Jesus knows we aren’t perfect and doesn’t expect a flawless performance, well at least in the way we understand it.

Paul, a man chosen by Jesus after His ascension to bring the Good News of His coming Kingdom to the rest of the world outside of Yisra’el and their invitation into it, had some encouragement and instruction for the questions asked earlier, and many like it.

Romans 15:4 NKJV

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

When we read The Scriptures, what is it that we think we’re reading?

Some good stories?

Myths?

Legends?

No one goes to prison for legends and no one gets beat for myths.

Yet in many countries around the world many Christians are persecuted, beat, imprisoned, and even killed for their faith, their trust, their persuasion in Jesus.

Paul tells us that The Scriptures help us to learn from the mistakes of the nation of Yisra’el, as well as her successes.

These dealings are found in what we call “The Old Testament” and refers to what was inspired by G-d to the various writers while within the Covenants He had with them and their forefathers.

Through these writings we find, in instruction as well as in deed the comfort we seek through our various seasons of life and their many details posed in the opening questions.

We find in the opening Scripture the description of our Creator as being:

Deuteronomy 7:9 NKJV

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

As we read through The Scriptures we find these descriptions of our Creator as consistent.

At least with those who have entered into relationship with Him by Covenant.

A word on what a Covenant is.

The word comes from Hebrew B’rit

The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament 1285. בְּרִית beriyṯ

It describes covenants, or agreements between and among human beings

The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament 1285. בְּרִית beriyṯ

It denotes an alliance, ordinance, or agreement between persons.

The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament 1285. בְּרִית beriyṯ

This word is used to describe God’s making a covenant with humankind. It may be an alliance of friendship (Ps. 25:14). The covenants made between God and humans defined the basis of God’s character in the Old Testament. They showed the strength of His divine promise from Adam all the way through to the exile and restoration

The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament 1285. בְּרִית beriyṯ

A covenant could be transgressed or violated (Deut. 17:2; Judg. 2:20), but the Lord never broke His covenants; He always remembered a covenant (Gen. 9:15, 16; Ex. 2:24; 6:5; Lev. 26:42).

To remember a Covenant means to give attention to and act upon the terms of that Covenant.

Avraham (B’reshit 12-15)

Genesis 12:1–3 NKJV

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis

The sign or evidence of this covenant was both a sacrifice and circumcision for all the male offspring (B’r 15:18, ch. 17)

This Covenant sign of circumcision was to be passed down from generation to generation

G-d protected him, blessed him famially and materially

Sarah barren

Through Avraham all the nations of the world would eventually be blessed

Yitzhak (B’reshit 26)

Gave him twins of his barren wife

Ya’akov (B’reshit 27)

Blessed him with 12 sons

Through Ya’akov, G-d continued to keep His promise and Covenant with Avraham to multiply his descendants.

Once Avrahams descendants become a nation, G-d makes a Covenant with it as a whole as He continues to keep His promise to Avraham and brings the nation out of slavery and back into the land that He promised to give to Avraham and his descendants.

This Covenant with the nation of Yisra’el was to supplement, not replace, The Covenant made with their ancestor Avraham.

All in all, the terms and expectations of the Covenant, as all covenants, were to be mutually edifying to both parties.

By living righteously, morally right and The Creator of all things said was right, G-d could bless and protect the nation.

G-d would have a nation that He loved and reflected His character in the world, and would be an example to the nations around the world of what living righteously looked like and the blessing it would bring.

Deuteronomy 4:

Deuteronomy 4:5–8 NKJV

“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ “For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?

Through the centuries, the nation wavered up and down between sin and righteous, obedience and rebellion.

In their obedience He would bless them abundantly.

Like a Father, in their rebellion G-d would seek to correct the nation.

Like a Father, in their rebellion G-d would seek to correct the nation.

Even when the nation as a whole wouldn’t take the correction, G-d would still send comfort for the ones who did want to live right by their Covenant with Him.

Jeremiah 21:8–9 NKJV

“Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to him.

Jeremiah 21:8-

By listening to G-d, even when the rest of the nation was under His judgment for breaking their Covenant, those who were living according to His Instructions, His Commandments, His Law, were blessed by not suffering the full fate of the rebellious.

G-d was still keeping His Covenant.

For those who did rebel, in keeping with His mercy, our Creator made provision to turn from their rebellion, it’s called repentance.

Repentance is turning away from our rebellion against our Creator as expressed by His Law and learning to live a righteous (morally right) life.

Deuteronomy 4:25–31 NKJV

“When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

G-d sent The Nation of Yisra’el into exile from the land He had promised their forefathers after He had sent them prophet after prophet after prophet.

After 400yrs of rebellion judgment of their rebellion had to take place.

But in their repentance, their forsaking of their rebellion, expressed in a prayer modeled by Dani’el The Prophet, G-d restored them to The Land

Daniel 9:4–13 NKJV

And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.

G-d restored Yisrael to her land and eventually brought The One promised to Avraham that would allow all The Nations of the earth be blessed, Jesus Christ.